Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris has nine bedrooms and a basketball court at his $32.3 million Miami Beach mansion. That ought to be plenty of room for a who’s who of the NFL’s brightest minds.
A day after dismissing coach Ron Rivera and declaring a “thorough but rapid” search had commenced, he wasted no time backing up those words.
The first goal is to find a general manager, or “head of football operations,” as he referred to it, and then work from there to find the team’s next coach. It’s possible whoever is hired receives a vice president or executive vice president title, and hires somebody else to be the day-to-day “general manager.”
Harris plans to host the top candidates in Miami Beach over the next few days, alongside the two executives he tapped to be a part of his search committee, former Golden State Warriors GM Bob Myers and former Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman.
The names to know, based on interview requests and other reports:
— Adam Peters. The assistant general manager of the San Francisco 49ers is the big prize in this cycle, if he can be lured away from the Bay Area. Peters declined several interviews last year, but will take one with Harris, which was scheduled for Tuesday night. An added bonus — he has ties to Myers, which could help break the ice in Washington.
Peters, John Lynch and the 49ers have built one of the league’s best-run organizations over the past decade, and players clamor to play for the team.
— Mike Borgonzi. The first candidate whose in-person interview was made public, Borgonzi has helped Andy Reid build the Chiefs into the NFL’s most successful team over the past five years. He’s currently the assistant general manager in Kansas City.
— Alec Halaby. The Eagles assistant general manager and Harvard grad is one of the most respected young minds in the business and leans heavily into the analytics side of things, which will undoubtedly appeal to Harris. As the owner of the 76ers, Harris has had a front-row seat to what has been built in Philadelphia.
— Will McClay. His job, vice president of player personnel for the Cowboys, is a double-edged sword. He’s allowed to work in relative anonymity, because of the large shadow Jerry Jones casts, but also will never be fully empowered to run the show, because Jones puts his stamp on everything that happens in Dallas.
Still, there’s no denying McClay’s skill in building around the offensive line through the draft, a strength of the Cowboys over the past decade.
— Ian Cunningham. The Bears’ assistant GM has been a hot name for the last two hiring cycles, and reportedly turned down the Arizona Cardinals’ top job last year. Cunningham got his start with the Ravens and Eagles, two of the league’s most respected operations, and has been in Chicago for the last two seasons.
Cunningham, a former offensive lineman, played his college football at the University of Virginia.
— Glenn Cook. It’s not often the Cleveland Browns are lauded for their organizational success, but under general manager Andrew Berry they’ve had one of the league’s best personnel departments.
Cook is the assistant general manager in Cleveland, and a former two-sport athlete who played football at Miami and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs.
Other names are likely to be in consideration too, and Harris said there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for the best way to run an organization.
“You want the best talent, and sometimes you let the talent just sort of influence the structure,” he said.
Harris added that he believes Washington is “an attractive destination” for candidates, who will take over a franchise with the No. 2 overall draft pick and about $90 million in salary cap space to spend.
Miami is also an attractive destination this time of year, which can’t hurt the recruiting process.
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